Molly With Issues

Hello!! I'm new!! Thanks for all the great info on this site!! A bit of the story then the issues.....

My dd wanted a balloon molly to put in the tank with her mini lobster. Ok she's spoiled....we got her A orange and white balloon molly. Bought her, brought her home and put her in the tank!! Awe...she's beautiful!! Went to bed and woke up to BABIES. LOTS of babies trying not to be eaten alive by Mr. McCoy the lobster. I was frantic!! I grabbed a little betta tank, threw gravel in there and started rescueing babies!! (After I could catch my breath I came on line to find out info on molly babies and found this site!! Heaven sent!! Just wish I wouldn't have made so many mistakes!!) So we are now the happy folks of 12 strong little mollies who were smart and avoided getting eaten the first few minutes of their lives!! Yeah!!

Here's the problem. Mama Molly has this thick crusty like stuff on her head and down her back. At first I thought it was ick. Looked online and it really doesn't look like ick!! My mother came over looked at it and said too, it's not ick!! (And mom;s know EVERYTHING, right??) So I took pictures of her and went back to Petco where we bought her to see what it was and how to treat it. The lady said that it's not ick. It might be something called velvet, but they didn't have anything to treat it. So she said molly and everything in the tank, and the babies out of the tank, will all probably die. When that happens get rid of the whole set up beause I won;t be able to get rid of it for a new set up!! MERCY!!

So I went to the only other pet shop in town with my pictures. They looked and don't know what that is!! They think it's probably a fungus. They sold me some stuff to treat it, just in case that's what it is. I asked if I needed to treat the babies and the one boy said no, it could kill them, but the other person, said you would have to because fungus spreads to everything. (they couldn't agree!!)
SOOOOOOOO.........

I came here, in hopes that someone has seen this before, know's what it and how to treat it!! And weather or not I need to treat the babies. They sold me a baby tent so that I can put the babies back in the main tank....safe from the lobster, so that if I decide to treat the babies this would be the easiest way to do it!

If I didn't give enough info, please specify what it is you need to know to help me, and I will be super happy to answer if I can!! I'm trying to add pictures. Hope that it works!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH advance for you help!!

Hi and welcome to the forum.

I've never seen a mollie with this problem. I suggest you post on the Tropical Fish Emergencies section. The guys there are more experienced with dealing with emergencies and will give you some good advice.

Good luck,
Mothi

Thank you!! I'll check into that!!

I had a 4 year old female molly die with a similar looking problem along her back. In my case, I figured she had simply been around too long. She had given me a few hundred fry over the years and finally succumbed to something that looked like your problem. I never did find anyone who could help me diagnose it. None of my other fish were affected in any way that I could tell and she lived much of her life in a 120 gallon community tank.

Mothi said:

Hi and welcome to the forum.

I've never seen a mollie with this problem. I suggest you post on the Tropical Fish Emergencies section. The guys there are more experienced with dealing with emergencies and will give you some good advice.

Good luck,
Mothi

Click to expand...

I took your advice and posted in the ER section.
They seem to think she has had an injury and that her scales are trying to re-grow. Here's the thread if you would like to read the ressponses!!

Thank you so much for the responses!!

OldMan47 said:

I had a 4 year old female molly die with a similar looking problem along her back. In my case, I figured she had simply been around too long. She had given me a few hundred fry over the years and finally succumbed to something that looked like your problem. I never did find anyone who could help me diagnose it. None of my other fish were affected in any way that I could tell and she lived much of her life in a 120 gallon community tank.

Click to expand...

Oh my!! I hope Molly doesn't die!! She's just new to us!!